An angiogram is a specialized x-ray examination of the blood vessels of the brain and other parts of the body. Angiography involves an injection of contrast medium to outline the blood vessels in order to render them visible in the x-ray images. The injection of the contrast medium is typically done through a small tube inserted into the groin of the patient.
Biplane angiography system features two sets of x-ray tube/x-ray detector pairs positioned at 90-degree angles allowing the blood vessels to be viewed from two different angles at the same time. Compared to the old single plane imaging equipment which gave a view of the blood vessels in only one plane, the biplane angiography system allows the physicians to locate the blood vessels more accurately through the provision of the two views.
In an angiography system, a user obtains a desired size for the image acquired by the x-ray detector by adjusting the zoom format of the x-ray images acquired on the x-ray detector. In a biplane angiography system, because there are two separate plane images acquired by the two x-ray detectors, a user needs to adjust the x-ray image zoom format for each x-ray imaging plane separately. Generally, the physicians desire to have the biplane images acquired on the same zoom sizes. This, however, requires the user to adjust the image zoom formats twice, one for each of the two x-ray detectors, and results in duplication of tasks that add undesirable time to medical procedures requiring biplane angiography.